What’s it like living in a village?

Okay, so I’m kinda late answering the question, mostly because it’s a really hard thing to describe. After one year, things have become quite normal for me. Like going to the pump or attaching a pagne (basically a large piece of cloth that you wear as a wrap skirt). But as I write this, I am on my way to visit my Mom in Italy and I just had quite an overwhelming experience at the Paris airport. So seeing all that again puts village life in perspective again.

My village is everything you’d imagine Peace Corps to be – no running water, no electricity, and a hole in the ground for a toilet. But those are the easy adjustments. It’s in the bush, but really laid back. I bike everywhere and it’s beautiful (mostly just during rainy season).

The upsides of village life:

· Awesome family! I live with an infinitely fantastic family! They’re so welcoming, supportive, and just lots of fun. They take really good care of me. Sometimes I feel bad because they always have to help me – get the bats out of my house, explain things, decipher my French and Bissa. But then I think about the laughs they get from having the crazy nasara live with them. I was burning my trash one night and it was already dark. I had already lit it and was waiting for it to burn down. My family was hanging out outside and could see me. Near the fire, I saw a bug that to me looked like a baby scorpion or something. And I hear those bites are really painful. So naturally, it freaked me out. It started to crawl towards me, and obviously I started to run. Meanwhile, my family is just looking over at me, seeing my run in circles around my burning trash. I’m sure I looked totally ridiculous, but makes life more fun, right?

· Always someone around to help you. Whether I need help finding something in the marche, bargaining for a good price, or fixing a stove that lights on fire when I cook, someone will also help me when I ask. Although this doesn’t always work with finding places if I’m lost – I’m not sure what it is, but they’re not really good at giving directions here.

· Slower pace of life. Taking time to get to know people. Caring about how people’s family, work, and life are going. Always being greeted with a smile.

The hardest parts of village life are the cultural adjustments and not understanding things. Just being in a place where there are days where nothing seems to make any sense at all. It’s a tough thing to describe, but I’ve learned to live in a state of somewhat confusion all the time. No running water, no electricity, those things are easy. It’s living in a completely different cultural context that is difficult. Things that make sense or are obvious back home aren’t here and the things that do here, aren’t the same back home.

A lot of what Peace Corps is about is integrating into your village (to gain respect and trust to serve as a foundation of your work). So I do spend a good bit of time getting to know people in my community – hanging out with my family, going to the market. Marche days are big social events. There’s a marche in my village and a grand marche 3 km away. My marche is pretty small, but plenty of benga (beans and rice), which I am known for eating all the time. My grande marche used to be really overwhelming. It’s much bigger and people from all around come, so not everyone knows me as well (at least when I first got here). I was constantly called at and people would constantly greet me. But now I love going and it feels so much more comfortable. I usually go just to say hi to people and talk to my friends. Those sorts of relationships and taking time to do those sorts of things are really important to the life of a PCV in Burkina Faso, which is a refreshing change of pace.